Samuel S C, Hancock P, Leigh D A
Department of Microbiology, Wycombe General Hospital, Buckinghamshire.
J Hosp Infect. 1991 Jul;18(3):219-30. doi: 10.1016/0195-6701(91)90146-y.
An investigation was carried out to establish the incidence of diarrhoea associated with the presence of enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens. The results indicate a high risk group, namely elderly hospitalized patients, who should be investigated for this organism in a similar way to Clostridium difficile if symptoms occur. The significance of antibiotic association is suggested and cross-infection was shown to be a possibility. Detection of the enterotoxin was accompanied in all cases by the presence of high faecal counts of enterotoxigenic strains of C. perfringens.
